


Confessional Trouble

by Chikaniwa



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Adam - Freeform, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Comedy, Family Shenanigans, How Do I Tag, It's past Allen not Allen Walker, M/M, Mana Campbell - Freeform, Past Allen - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2018-08-20 05:13:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8237317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikaniwa/pseuds/Chikaniwa
Summary: How on earth did he, Neah Campbell go and fall for that nerd! Now he was paying the price of driving himself insane in figuring out how to confess to the boy. If figuring out his emotions wasn't bad, then trying to hide it all from his brothers. There was no way he wanted them involved and start coming up with crazy schemes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I finally found time to import this work from Fanfiction to here. This was inspired by people's evil little drabbles, headcanons, and whatevers about NeAllen.
> 
> AU Highschool with NeAllen, and rated T. This is a Past Allen with Neah, therefore there might not be the usual gang that we see.
> 
> I do not, do not, own DGM! All rights go to Katsura Hoshino. With that said, thank you all for reading and I apologize for any grammar mistakes!

He let out a deep breath as he stared intently into his soup. It was some nasty green, thick like mucus soup that didn’t taste good at all. Usually that was what he would be complaining about right now, but noooo. Instead he had something or rather _someone_ on his mind than to care about what his dinner was. A certain someone that he hated… no actually he didn’t really hate that person. He was... rather… fond of? No, no that didn’t sound right either… because that would imply that he actually cared for… no. He couldn’t believe he was thinking about this. Though the closest word came to… well… like? No! He disliked that person! … No, that was a lie because he didn’t really dislike the person. He liked… no wait a minute. If he liked that person then that means, no it can’t be… because that would mean he’s completely fallen for that person and that’s not possible. So perhaps despise? No!

Jesus he was confusing himself and just truthfully he didn’t know how he felt. He hated that person, but at the same time he didn’t. God… he couldn’t even say or think of that person without that smile on their face appearing in his mind. It made his cheeks burn every time he saw the smile. A smile he knew that would never be directed to him.

Damn it scumbag body. He couldn’t be in love.

Unknowingly he let out another deep breath and the two others, who he forgot sat there, raised their eyebrows at him. The two have noted how many times he’s sighed and the sullen expression on his face when dinner started.

“Oh my god, I don’t think I can take it Adam.”  The youngest of the triplets hissed quietly, causing their dog laying at the corner to raise his head up.

“Shh, shh Mana. You have to be patient and let Neah come to us.”

Mana flashed the oldest brother ‘are you serious there is something obviously bothering him’ look.

However Adam return the look to the youngest with ‘this is obviously a sensitive situation for our brother and we need to proceed carefully’. Adam watched as Mana shook his head and rub his forehead. While the other was absentmindedly stirring his soup and staring at it like it was the most fascinating invention since sliced Wonder bread.

The second oldest didn’t even notice how worried his brothers were about him.

The atmosphere became extremely heavy that none of the servants dared came out and it was becoming unbearable for Mana. However for Adam, he tried to ignore the tension because pushing people to a corner never worked… well for his brother.

 Not even a minute passed and Mana began to indicate with his eyes between his brothers. Obviously hinting to say something or else he was because this had gone far enough.

 And all Adam could do was reply with a troubled sigh. It’s not that he wasn’t concerned at all, but forcing someone to tell their problems didn’t work… at least with his younger brother. In addition, Mana had a habit of pushing too far when he became overly worried. Though the scolding look from Mana made him not want to say otherwise. The last thing he would ever want to do was to make both his brother upset. One was enough for his poor heart to handle. Some people might have told him he spoiled them a little too much...

“Ahem.”

No response.

“ _Ahem_.” Adam tried again, but with a lot more emphasis.

Still no response.

Even Timcanpy joined in with a loud bark to get Neah’s attention, but it didn’t work and Neah still didn’t react.

Finally Mana rolled his eyes and shouted out. “NEAH!”

The cry of the Neah’s name jolted him out of his deep thought and he looked left and right frantically. “Yea?! What?! Where’s the fire?!”

“Are you alright Neah?”

Neah calmed down to go back to his Debbie Downer attitude and muttered. “Yea. What makes you say that?”

“Well you’ve been sighing a lot this whole dinner time.” Mana eyebrows crossed worryingly.

“I’m fine.”

 Mana persist and his tone turned annoyed at the lame response his brother gave him. “Doesn’t sound like it.”

 “Jesus Mana, get off my case!” Neah snapped as he let the spoon in his hand clatter on the table forcefully. He didn’t want to talk about it, he couldn’t because hell, he hasn’t even figured it out himself. He needed time to think about it and his brothers bugging him wasn’t helping him in his dilemma. In fact, he didn’t want them to know if it happened to be the worst case scenario. Them knowing would just kill him. It wasn’t Mana, but himself that he was frustrated with that caused him to snap irritated. It was too late to retract his words without them knowing.

 “I won’t! Not until you tell me what’s wrong!” Mana snapped back heatedly and stood from his chair causing the chair to scrape harshly against the wooden floor.

 Adam shrinked in his seat as he watched his younger brothers argue back and forth. There was no way that he wanted to get caught in the fight and be forced to choose a side. He preferred his side, where no one was fighting or right or wrong. It was dinner time, the one time where they could spend at least a hour or so together from their busy affairs. He rather spend his time eating with his brothers and conversing with one another. Not fighting each other. He loved his brothers, he did and without a doubt. It’s just sometimes they were… well... brothers. He watched Mana leave the dining hall room from the left exit and Neah the right. He winced as the two both slammed the doors roughly and he could have sworn he heard the door crack from Neah’s side.

 “Oh dear.” Adam whistled nervously to no one in particular and Timcanpy looked at him with sad eyes. “Oh don’t give me that look! I can get them to make up! Give me a bit of time and everything will be as good as new!”  

 Timcanpy barked, satisfied with that and followed after Neah.

 Now it was just him... by himself, sitting at the dinner table and they hadn’t even hit the main course or the best part: dessert! “Well then, I guess I’ll just skip to dessert before I go up there.” Dessert will be his reward for getting the two to make up later.

 

**XXXXXX**

Adam knocked gently on the door of Neah’s room. “Neah, it’s me Adam. May I come in?”

“No.”

Whatever was bothering Neah must have been bad. Neah would never be this angry with his own family member like this. He opened the door to find his brother on his bed and lying flat on his stomach, buried in pillows.

“What is the point of asking me when you’re just going to come in?” Neah grumbled.

“Formalities.”  Adam shrugged and took a seat on the bed besides his brother. “Besides you didn’t even bother to lock your door.”

 Neah blinked in shock. “Shit, I forgot.” There was a lot going in his mind apparently.

 “I hope you know what you’re doing is hurting not only yourself, but your family also.” No point in beating around the bushes.

 Neah groaned exasperated. “I know, I know.”

"Then… why are you…?”

“Because I’m dumb and I have no idea what I’m doing.” Neah whined pathetically into his pillow.

“Maybe if you tell us what is bothering instead of bottling it all inside and taking it out on Mana. We are both very concerned about you.”

Neah sat up and blew out a frustrated puff of air. Sometimes he hated when his brothers did this, they seriously watched too much Opera or that Dr. Phil show. “That’s the thing, I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Try.” Adam sighed at how stubborn Neah was being right now. Was it so hard for Neah to turn to his brothers for help?  “We can’t stand for you to be so unhappy.”

Neah grimaced at how he making his brothers upset and mumbled. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated how?” Adam motioned for Neah to continue describing how he felt, slowly and steadily.

However it didn’t work and Neah didn’t last that long to even attempt to think about it before giving up. “Complicated!”

“Fine. Why don’t we start small.”

Neah paused for moment and actually thought about it. The first thing came to mind was Mana and he flashed his brother a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry and I should probably go apologize to Mana too, huh?”

“That would be a good start.” The unexpected voice caused Neah to look up the doorway. There in front of him was Mana.

“Honestly I wasn’t even going to let this go so easily, but Adam came to me first and told me to stand by the doorway. He wanted me to hear you out.”

Neah frowned, but the smile on his lips said otherwise. “Can you stop that Adam.”

“Stop what?” Adam asked innocently.

“Stop with whole being right and being sneaky so that you could get us both to make up.”

“Well, someone has to do it because you two are as stubborn as a mule.” Adam huffed with his arms against his chest.

‘What?!” Mana laughed. “Look who’s talking!”  He shoved his brother by the shoulder playfully, knocking him into Neah.

The smile returned to Neah’s face and he chuckled, feeling like himself. For a moment he didn’t feel he was troubled or down casted. “Hey!” Inside his mind he rationally thought to himself that it could all just be a phase. Similar to that time he had a crush on that one girl, whose name escaped him, back in the third grade. After a few days, he’ll forget about this infatuation and move on. It couldn’t be… it couldn’t be love. He was not in love.

Just like that they started a chain of knocking and shoving each other. In the end, boys will be boys.

 

**XXXXXX**

Neah yawned and felt tears at the corner of his eyes. He was barely registering what the teacher was saying, let alone understanding what was going on with his stupid feelings. He didn’t sleep well last night and the night before that and the night before that night and… so on and so forth. It’s been more than just a few days that he hasn’t felt well and he’s been acting strangely. He was certain his brothers knew, but didn’t want to say anything. They were waiting for him to talk to them and were afraid to push or upset him. Usually if it was any other problem then he would cave and go talk to them.

He would tell them if he could, but... he wasn’t going to. They wouldn’t understand that he _couldn’t._

It’s not like he didn’t want his brother to help him… ah who was he kidding?! If worse came to worse, then he definitely did not want his brother to find out he had a crush on someone! It would be embarrassing! They would do something he’d dread in front of his crush. He didn’t even want to think about what if his brothers ruined everything! Despite that he had no plan of confessing so there was nothing to ruin at the moment.

Acting odd and not sleeping well were only the icing on top of the cake. He was also experiencing some… not so normal dreams of his crush and woke up with a tiny bit of… god why him? It was embarrassing to even think about it. To be fair he was a normal, okay maybe not normal, but as normal could be, healthy teenage boy. He’s researched on the internet that it wasn’t uncommon. However what he cannot fathom was why, why did it have to be that demon of a boy? Why not someone cuter? Someone milder? Technically he didn’t have a gender preference, but he really wished it was someone else.

So he was wrong, oh so horribly wrong to assume this phase would go away. He needed to take a reality check and maybe… consider... the idea that he was actually…. in love.

If that was _really_ the case, then he needed to be extra careful how he acted around his brothers.

He mentally groaned to himself and slumped down against the desk in total agony. He hit his forehead against the wooden desk with a small thunk. He’s only heard horrible, terrible, awful, awful things about love.

God he hated his life.

What snapped him out of his thoughts was something that hit his head. He turned his head to find a ball of paper on the floor. He looked at his brother, sitting behind him, oddly for throwing that at him. Though what was even more confusing was the nervous look on Mana’s face. Mana pointed to the front of the classroom and what he saw was a-not-so-happy teacher by his desk.

Oh great, just what he needed. When did the Mr. Pan get so close to him? Mr. Pan must have called on him again and the one time when he wasn’t paying attention. “... Hey teach… what’s up?”

Judging from the teacher’s disapproving gaze, he’d say that he was in trouble. “Detention Neah Campbell, today after school.”

“What?!” Neah exclaimed and lept from his seat. It’s not like he was failing this class or that he was a bad student. He swore this teacher didn’t like him because he wasn’t failing this class or struggling to pass the class. In fact he was passing with flying colors and with ease. It seemed like the teacher hated it when a student doesn’t struggle. However it was a math class, so that saved him from not arguing with Mr. Pan every day. Math was either right or wrong, no in betweens.

Mana shook his head and wished his brother didn’t do that. He knew the teacher wasn’t going to compromise and going to further punish Neah for questioning his authority. Unlike Neah, he was one of the students endeavoring to not fail the class and making do with a C.

“Detention for the whole month, Mr. Campbell.”

“Hey can you even-mmpfff?!!”

Mana quickly clamped his hands over his brother’s mouth when he had the feeling Neah was about to make an outburst. He could practically feel his twin brother about to explode with rage. “Yes sir! I’ll make sure he will get to his detention after school!”

“Make sure he does. You should be more like your brother, Neah.”

It was a good thing the bell rang for lunch because they needed the hour break and allowed Mana to drag his brother out of the classroom before anything else could happen.

For the brothers, being compared to each other was uncomfortable and frustrating. It was poisonous. There is just nothing more demoralizing than being compared to someone, especially a sibling. They all had their own faults and weakness just like everyone else. Was it because they were triplets that made it easier for others to compare them?

“God what is his problem?!” Neah growled as he stuffed his books into the lockers and some into his bag. He slammed his locker door shut with much more force than intended causing the door to bend slightly and not closing properly. Neah’s eyes narrowed at the locker door as if everything was its fault. Him not getting a good night rest for the past few weeks or so, him acting strangely, him worrying his brother, him for not paying attention in class, him for getting detention for the whole week! God he wanted to destroy something.

“Hey.” Mana sighed as he touched his brother’s hand before Neah would break something. “Calm down and stop taking it out on the poor locker.” He closed the locker for his brother and gently. “Mr. Pan is like that to everyone, you’re not special to him Neah.”

“Yea right.” Neah scoffed. “He calls on me more than everyone else and picks on me for the tiniest things. Like docking off points off my test because my handwriting was ‘too small’ ”

“One day Neah. He’ll get what he deserves, karma.” Mana offered positively to his angry brother.

“Karma? Pfft, that’s bullshit.”

“One day!” Mana declared as they entered the cafeteria to get some food.

When they ordered their food and sat down, Neah couldn’t help but eye his crush, he who shall not be named. He gaze lingered as the boy left the cafeteria.

“Neah, are you okay?” Mana asked concerned and failed to follow his brother’s gaze to whatever he was staring at.

“Nothing!” Neah answered quickly, almost being caught. “Please Mana, don’t start with the whole mother hen thing.”

“Well I wouldn’t have to if someone wasn’t acting so weird lately and looking as if you haven’t been sleeping well.” Mana frowned and groaned exasperated at how different, miserable his brother was acting. He was getting real close of getting fed up and the only reason why he hasn’t exploded was because he promised Adam. “Neah! Stop picking your food around!”

“It’s my food, I can do whatever.”

“Will you stop acting like a child?”

“Considering I just got detention for something I totally didn’t deserve for a whole month?”

“Now I know that is not the reason why you’re acting so miserable.”

Neah glared at how annoying his brother could be and wished he would just stop caring at times. He stood up from his chair and totally did not just waste food.

“Neah.” Mana murmured to himself unhappily as he watched his brother leave. Maybe Adam was right that he shouldn’t keep poking and prodding Neah. He should really know better, but he couldn’t handle seeing any of his family so down. It just tore his heart and he wanted to see a smile on their faces. It was his turn to pick at the food that suddenly didn’t so appetizing anymore.

“Hey.”

Mana thought to him seriously what was wrong with Neah.

“Mana.”

DId he do something wrong? Mana tried to rack his brain through the past weeks of what happened.

“Hey anybody in there?” Mana never noticing once the hand waving in front of his face.

At this rate Mana was going to keep worrying and not get a wink of sleep. He’ll have to talk to Adam again and- a sudden clap to his face jolted him out of his thoughts. He saw a familiar fiery redhead with glasses and a face that told everyone to fuck off, but it was a female then it would be a different story. “Oh Cross.”

“Oh Cross? What the hell is wrong with you and your brother? I just said hi to him and he ignored me. How can anyone ignore someone this handsome?”

Mana didn’t even respond, still feeling dejected and worried beyond all belief. The light hearted joke flew right over his head.

“Alright.” Cross sighed reluctantly as he readied himself for the onslaught of complains from Mana. “What’s got Neah’s panties in a twist and causing you to be a stick in the mud?” He didn’t want to hear people bitch, he got that enough from society. Fuck he should just be allowed to do whatever he wants, not that he wasn’t already doing that and rocking at it too. However he rather enjoyed the company of the Campbells or well just Neah and Mana. He’s got some issues with their older brother, Adam.

Mana sighed dejectedly. “No, no. I don’t want to trouble you Cross and I know you hate things like these.”

“I asked so… lay it on me.”

Mana bit his lips and took a deep breath as if trying to control himself. Cross rolled his eyes and looked at his expensive looking watch to count just how long Mana could last.

5…

4….

3….

2…..

1…...

“I don’t even know what is wrong with Neah! I mean he is just so stubborn and why can’t he see that I just want to help him and for him to be happy? I mean we are triplets aren’t we? We’ve always been thick as thieves?! So what is wrong with him?! Why won’t he tell me anything! But nooooooo, he keeps shutting himself off and I don’t understand that’s going through that thick skull of his! I try and try, but nothing! I talked to Adam about his behavior, but Adam just keeps telling me the same thing over and over. He keeps explaining to me that I can’t just push Neah to tell me what is wrong with him because Neah is the kind of person that pulls away when you push. Let me tell you that it’s been weeks that he’s been like this and I know he isn’t getting any sleep and… and … what should I do Cross?!”

Cross blinked in awe at how fast Mana spoke and without taking any pauses to breathe. He still was trying to process all the stuff Mana spewed out. Though he should probably say something because Mana practically looked as if he was going to cry and he really wasn’t a person that could comfort someone; especially a boy. “Umm… err... do you have any ideas?”

“If I did then I wouldn’t be like this now would I?”

“So much sass.” Cross rolled his eyes at how much his friend needed to get laid and stop being concerned for his dumbass brothers.

Mana exhaled distressed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound that way. I’m just…”

“Yea I know.”

“I’m sorry,... um… did you need something?” Mana asked, trying to change the topic to be less about him and his angst.

“Came to say hi and ask what happened in first period..”

“Oh. Hi and um… nothing much.” Mana shrugged.

“Look, stop caring about that idiot so much about. You’ll be hideous looking in no time.”

“Thank you Cross.” Mana flashed his friend a small smile for wanting to cheer him up with his jokes. “I appreciate the concern, but that idiot is my brother.”

“He’ll bounce back in no time like he always does, Mana.” Cross stayed in his seat and watch Mana prepare to leave, but Mana halted for a moment and stared at him.“What?”

Mana decided to ignore his instinct telling him that maybe Cross knew something about it. He didn’t want to accuse his friend of anything. He sighed hopelessly, yet again  “Never mind. I’ve got a tutor session to go to and Cross if you find out anything then please tell me, okay?”

“Will do.” Cross waved his friend goodbye and watched as Mana sulked away from the cafeteria. As soon as Mana was out of hearing range, Cross muttered. “That idiot.”

 

**XXXXXX**

As soon as Neah found some empty hallway with no one in sight, he moaned out frustrated and slammed his forehead against the concrete white walls. He really needed to stop fucking up and upsetting his brothers. He didn’t know what to do if this really happened to be his worst nightmare: love. Honest to god, he had no idea.

Though his biggest fear was to find out if the feeling wasn’t mutual scared him and he was not a person that was easily scared. Just how could one boy have so much influence over him?  Why couldn’t it have been some sort of infatuation, at least that could be easily taken cared of! He was driving himself crazy!

“I always knew eventually that you would surrender your sanity, Campbell.”

Neah stopped hitting his head against the wall and instead his heart was practically beating fast against his chest when he heard that melodious voice. The tiny voice in his head kept chanting to him: ‘Don’t fuck up Neah D. Campbell! Don’t fuck up! Say something nice to him! Tell him!’

“Well yea if anyone saw your face.” He sneered and the words just flew out of his mouth like a punch to his balls. DAMN IT NEAH, the tiny voice in his mind screamed. He done fucked up and now he wanted to just hide away or some way to rewind time so that he could have a redo. Though knowing him he’d just mess up again.

“Then a simple solution would be to not look at my face if you despise it so much.”

It wasn’t that he hated the boy’s face, it was quite the opposite actually. “Can’t you ever talk normally?”

“I have no idea what you’re going on about.”

Sometimes the boy spoke in a confusing, wordy, and polite manner. Sometimes he thought it was done on purpose, all for the sake of just annoying the hell out of him. However that wasn’t the case when he heard Mana and him talking. He’ll admit that it is kind of adorable the way the boy does sound. He prefered the boy when he was heated up in a argument or angry. The boy’s tone would change completely into something rude and foul mouthed. Probably that’s why he went out of his way to anger or annoy the boy.

He watched the boy roll his eyes, but the smirk never left his face. “Honestly I don’t know why I  give myself the inconvenience of speaking to a simple minded person like you.”

“Cause you can’t get enough of me.” No it was the other way around it and he really wished he would learn to think before he spoke like his brother’s have often commented about.

“Uh-huh, think whatever helps you sleep at night Campbell. Is there a significant reason as to why are you following me?”

He would sleep well if the boy didn’t keep appearing in his dreams and thoughts. “Following _you_ ? Aren’t _you_ following me?” Actually he didn’t know, his feet had moved on its own when the boy started walking.

“Guess again Campbell.”

“What, I can’t go to the library?” Neah scoffed, but knew that the boy was often at the library because he was such a book worm.

“ _You_ ? At the library? Is the world coming to end or something? Why would _you_ ever set foot in the library?” The boy snorted in contempt.

“For your information, I got detention.”

“Am I supposed to be surprised about that?”

“From that jerk pre-calc, Mr. Pan and I need something to do for an hour after school.””

“Oh.” The boy grimaced and flashed him a pitiful look. “I had him and he was a pain in the arse until I asked for a transfer.”

“I tried and it didn’t work since there were about ten other people asking the same request. Guess how well that went.”

“It didn’t.”

“Exactly."

“Well…” The boy paused for a moment as he adjusted the book in arms to open the library door. “I can offer you a good book to read so that your hour with him becomes more bearable.”

A rush of warm feelings swept through him and he was glad the boy had turned away from him to open the library door. So there was no way that the boy could see how red his cheeks were.

“Though that is... if you want me to recommend a book to you.”

Finally, a smile crept on his lips after weeks of moping. “You would know a good book wouldn’t you?”

The warm feeling in his stomach kept fluttering around his stomach and the smile on his lips refused to go away. These signs meant that he could not deny it any longer. These feelings and thoughts occurred only when he saw the boy and thought about him. This could only mean one thing: he was in love with Allen.

 

**XXXXXX**

He had not felt this happy for while, not since he first found out out he had fallen for Allen these past few weeks. He had spent the whole lunch time with Allen, talking! _Talking,_ albeit that they were talking about books and mainly Allen did all the talking since he didn’t read much, but still! Usually they never talked like normal people. Pretty sure shouting and yelling at each other didn’t count.They didn’t argue and had a bit of witty banters. Nothing could ruin his mood!

“Don’t forget detention, Mr. Campbell.”

Except for that.

He had completely forgot about detention until he saw the man walking down the wall to greet him. It wasn’t even a greeting but a reminded to him of how much of a jerk the man was. Now everything was coming back to bite him in the ass as he remembered his fight with Mana. No doubt that Adam would notice how upset Mana was and how gloomily he’s been. It’s not that they weren’t good at hiding and keeping secrets from each other. In fact, They were all real good at pretending and lying. Though that’s not something to be proud of as most people would say and Mana had an extremely guilty conscious when he did. It’s just they knew when one of them was pretending or hiding. It was some stupid inner sense or feeling because they were triplets. He wouldn’t be surprised if Adam decided to confront him for his behavior. They would be so mad at him. His only saving grace was that he had an hour to come up with an excuse to appease Mana… and Adam.

The day went by in a blink of an eye and he sent a text to Mana to remind him that he had detention. So there was no need for his brother to wait and could just head home. He headed down the hall for his hour of after school hell with his most favorite teacher of all time. He made it to his destination and opened the door to be greeted by his not so pleasant teacher who sentenced him here.

“Late Mr. Campbell.” The man tapped a his watch causing Neah to look up at his smartphone for the time. He was only a minute late.

“I’m only a minute late.”

“Just a minute?” Mr. Pan frowned disapproving. “When you get to the real world Mr.Campbell, we’ll see how many times you can use that excuse before you get fired.”

Neah kept his mouth shut tight and thought angrily. _‘Yea well not everyone is jerk like you to cause a fuss over being a minute late.’_ He sat down on a desk and opened his book, though quite honestly he was just going tune out everything and go into his own world to pass the time. He didn’t feel like reading, but then again Allen had recommended this book to him.... what another dilemma he was in. He needed to stop putting himself into situations like these.

“Mr Campbell.”

Ah but, he needed to think about his brother issues. Now what lame excuse could he think of to apologize to Mana?

“Mr. Campbell.”

Stressed from school work? That seemed plausible since his troubles did come from someone in this school... Allen.

“Mr. Campbell!”

Reluctantly he turned away from his thoughts to pay attention to the man. He actually heard the Mr. Pan the first time, but he wanted to annoy him by not paying attention the first time. “Yes.” He managed to reply without any sarcasm.

“You’re so young Mr. Campbell, how can your hearing be that bad?”

‘ _t’s because I keep listening to your voice every day.’_ And that’s what he really wanted to say to the man. However the repercussions at the moment didn’t seem to be worth it. He still needed to last the whole year with this man and had two more years in this school. So…

“As I was saying, instead of having you waste my time here and laze around as most kids your age does.”

Waste time? The man was the one that wanted him here in detention! Neah really wanted to strangle the man and the tingling in his hands didn’t make the urge lessen.

“I have decided that a child like you needs discipline and what better way than to work? Pack up your things and go to the library. Mr. Bookman will be there in charge of your detention.”

That had to be the best thing he’s heard from his Mr. Pan’s mouth and he had to surpass the urge to not smile. Anything to spend less time with the teacher and the librarian was a decent person… Then again it’s not really hard to compare others with Mr. Pan. The only downside was that he would be doing physical labor. However he still gathered all his belongings and skedaddled down the hall.

He arrived at the library entrance and the door opened, revealing a man of short stature with his black hair tied in ponytail that oddly was shaped like a question mark. The man was a mystery, as mysterious as to the dark circles around his eyes. No one knew his first name and the man hardly talked about himself, but he was still a good person to many, Bookman.

“Neah, you looked like I saved you from a terrible fate.”

“You did!” Neah said with much gratitude.

“Well I don’t want to hear it, but I’m glad you are so eager to work with us. “

Us? Neah questioned to himself confused as he placed his belongings down. He didn’t realize the librarian, Bookman had an assistance. Everyone knew the man had a strict code and regulations when it came to the library.

“You can put your things behind the counter and join Allen in section C-D.”

Neah did a double take and nearly tripped as he left the checkout counter. “Wha?”

“Allen. Now I know you two don’t get along, but you two will _behave_ in my library.” It was no secret how Allen and Neah regarded each other. They were frequent to warnings from teachers and even visitors to the principal.

The underlying threat in Bookman’s words were unnecessary because it wasn’t true that he hated Allen. He just didn’t know how to convey his true feelings and the one who he was going to be stuck with for the next hour! Fuck his life.

“Allen!” Bookman called out.

“Over here.” Allen answered as he wiped his glasses.

The timing to see Allen could have not have been worse because that when the boy had taken his round and large glasses, revealing his face. The light shining from the window didn’t make the situation any better, all it did was emphasis how angelic and beautiful Allen was to him. Neah’s breath got caught in his throat and was disappointed to see the glasses back on.

“Neah, you will be helping Allen to organize the books and you two _will behave_.” Bookman repeated the last part before leaving them to their own devices so he could finish his work.

“Understood.” Allen nodded and went back to sorting the books.

Neah awkwardly went besides the cart of book and asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Organizing the books.”

“Well yea, I see that.”

“I’m here so often and Bookman is not bad company so...” Allen muttered, very focused on placing the books to their proper spot. The boy’s eyebrow crossed irritated together. “Will you keep in mind of what you’re doing? That book doesn’t even belong there.”

Neah looked down let out out an. “Oops.”

“Don’t know your alphabet Campbell?”

“Hmm, yea sorry.” To be fair he had just absentmindedly grabbed a book because he was distracted by a certain someone. When Allen hand brushed his hand to take the book from him, the sudden touch caused him to drop the book on the soft carpet with a soft thump.

Allen sent him a strange look as he picked the book off the floor. “I don’t particularly have a personal interest in you, but it unsettles me when you take no offense in my insult.”

“You could have just said that you were concerned for me.” Neah retorted cheekily. He didn’t expect the boy to care about him and he won’t lie that it didn’t make him the slightest happy.

“Hmpf, that implies that I actually cared for you in the first place.”

Just like that, all his hopes and dreams came crashing down… okay maybe not. He was over exaggerating, but it did make him upset to hear Allen say that he didn’t care for him.

“These people!” Neah unexpectedly heard Allen swear angrily and turned to see a book in his face. “Don’t they understand the importance of alphabetizing?! How could Kafka be placed among authors with the last name clearly starting with C?! Is C and K the same?!” Allen walk out of the aisle muttering. “Bloody morons.”

Neah watched amused at how much it bothered Allen that someone simply misplaced a book in the wrong place. However it was a fleeting moment and he went back to the issue lingering in his mind as he put the books on the shelves, in the right order. Did Allen feel the same as him? He didn’t want to find out if it turned out to be just him. He didn’t want Allen to become uncomfortable or disgusted around him. Worse, he didn’t want to have Allen make fun of for it or never talk to him again. The thought of that practically made him want to cry. He guess he could settle for Allen staying as a friend if worse came to worse.

Neah blinked in shock at what he just thought and mentally slapped himself across the face. How could he be acting so emotional? It wasn’t going to be the end of the world. All he had to do was tell Allen. _Simple._ He’ll get the boy’s attention and look Allen in his round and smoky gray eyes… and… and… he was losing his train of thought... Neah let out a pitiful and small whine. Nothing was going to go as plan, no matter how simple it was just to tell the boy three easy words: I love you.

“Hey.”

Neah frowned. How hard could it be say I love you? He’s said to his mom before she died, Adam, Mana, his pet dog Timcanpy, his favorite foods, and to a bunch other random things. Sure he did say ‘I love you’ willy-nilly, but he always mean it every time..

“Hey.”

So what was so different about this anomaly called Allen? How could-! Neah never got to finish his thought when something hit the back of head painfully and caused him to stumble forward. He smacked his forehead against the bookshelves with a lot more force than he realized. He got hit from the front and the back. However that wasn’t even the best part. It was what came after when he had stumbled towards the shelves. He didn’t even have time to register the pain as he saw one by one the bookshelves of the library toppled down like dominoes.

“...”

“...”

“Oh... bugger.”

Neah didn’t know what Allen said, but the tone of the boy’s voice summed up well to how he was feeling right about now. They had ruined Bookman’s library. They were so dead. Dead as dead could be. He turned to the boy, whose face was drained of all color, while rubbing the back of his head. “Ummm…. You think Bookman will notice this?”

The only response he got was the boy slapping his forehead. Though in his defense, it was only a section, only a part of the library bookshelves were completely ruined. So… all was not lost.

“Oh I noticed.”

They both turned slowly towards a very livid Bookman and suddenly to them, the short man looked a lot taller now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile, but I saw some NeAllen stuff and it sparked my interest again. Sorry for the late thank you, but thank you all for the bookmarks, kudos, and comments!
> 
> Sorry once more if I missed any grammar mistakes, feel free to ask any questions!

_“I’m so sorry!”_ Allen immediately blurts as soon as they left the library.

They didn’t even start cleaning up the mess in the library if one could call the place a library anymore with what they’ve done. Neah can’t believe he still has fully functional ears after being reprimanded for so long. Bookman sure could yell....

It’s an understatement to simply say, “boy, was Bookman mad!”

Not to mention his legs! He thought his legs were a goner from sitting on them for so long. Dozens of chair in the library and they’re forced to sit in the most uncomfortable position ever!

At least, they could finally leave the library from the two hour long lecture from Bookman. By the time they could even leave, there isn’t a ray of sunshine outside. Well… better the dark than under Bookman’s wrathful gaze.

“It’s fine.” Neah waves his hand nonchalantly, and tries to joke. “I’m just glad to make it out of there alive!” His joke falls flat when not even a small grin cracks on those lips. The worry on the boy’s face doesn’t suit him, not when he’s known him for so long to be strong willed and difficult. Though, he thinks it’s just his case when he’s dealing with the boy. Sometimes he sees Allen act like a completely different person when he’s with someone else.

He continues walking down the hall with Allen by his side and nothing to fill the gap between them. For once he actually keeps his mouth sealed, anything that might slip out would sound awkward. It's completely desolate during the after school hours, which is different, since he's so used to the halls being filled with life. Most people would feel frightened at the emptiness, but for him, he finds the silence and stillness of it all, so peaceful.

Though, he can’t say that being alone with Allen is peaceful… man when did it get all hot in here? Where’s that cool, night breeze?

“I can’t believe that happened.” Allen moans, absolutely horrified. “I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.”

They’ve done and said a lot of stupid shit to each other. Outcomes of destroying something just happens in the heat of the moment. Utterly destroying the school’s library has to be one of their top five on the list of things that got wrecked during their moments together.

“Now don’t crying over a few hurt books.” 

Even though, he has never seen Allen cry over anything. The closest things he’s seen to tears is when they boy is keeled over laughing his ass off at him.

Neah flashes him a cheerful grin and he pretends to his his head.“I didn’t even feel it. Besides, my brothers have always told me I’ve got a hard head.”

Despite all the nervousness he’s feeling… it’s not entirely all bad.

After all, it’s just the two of them and there’s no one around… kind of like they’re in their own world right now. He has Allen all to himself even if it’s only for a little awhile.

He had to admit that it was kind of cute how guilty Allen looks. Much better than the sneering looks he gets, that’s for sure.

“Argh!” Suddenly, Allen moans out and flashes him a glare. “It’s all your fault, Campbell.”

Speaking of sneering looks… somehow he just knew the boy wouldn’t act remorseful for long. In fact, he didn’t realize they’d go back at each other’s throat this fast. “My fault?” He sputters, incredulous and points his finger at him. “ _You’re_ the one that hit me?!”

“I wouldn’t have to, if you didn’t act so weird!”

“Acting weird?! If you couldn’t tell, I had something on my mind!”

Allen scoffs. “On your mind? Now Campbell, we all know there’s nothing, but air in there.”

Neah couldn’t believe it and his hands ball into a fist. How dare he?! How dare he blame him?! How could he understand what he’s going through?! More importantly, just how in the world can Allen insult him like this when the boy knows nothing and especially, when it’s his fault for making him… like… like- argh! Like a lovesick fool! The anger bubbling inside until there’s nowhere to go, but out and at the boy’s direction.

“SHUT UP!”

The seriousness and venom in his words reverberate through the cold air, poisoning the atmosphere into a deadly silent. The shock prevalent on Allen’s face, who isn't a fool to not notice the attack in his words, but soon a scowl replaces it and he turns on his heels without another word. 

Neah is seething, but the fumes quickly dissolve into a puddle of guilt when he realizes how he messed up. He covers his face with his hands and slides it down in frustration. The little voice in the back of his mind cheering, sarcastically. _Way to go Neah, you imbecile!_

Great.

Allen has no idea about his feelings and it’s not his fault when he hasn’t even freakin’ said anything! Naturally, this is how the boy would act towards him. But- it’s… god, he wishes Allen didn’t press his buttons so hard when he’s at such a vulnerable state. Especially when he, himself is trying to figure out how to sort all of what he’s going through. 

It’s not easy throwing in Allen causes it to be even more complicated.

At a loss of words, he shuffles behind Allen like some heart broken puppy and not like he has a choice. If he could, he’d go another way, but there’s only one way out of the school premise.

They walk towards the empty streets as if neither one of them exist. They continue together in the same direction and Neah wonders, how did he never notice that he and Allen take the same route?

It’s annoying how brilliant the moon continues to shine when they’re so gloomy.

Neah stole glances at Allen and when he thinks that he’s about to get caught staring, he turns away. A part of him wants to apologize and another part doesn’t. He’s not wrong that part of this is Allen’s fault. Ugh, he wishes he could just reveal it all to him or communicate without using words!

“Something on your mind, Campbell?” Allen breaks the silence, his gaze on the path in front of him and not at Neah.

Shit. He didn’t prepare for this! Uh, what does he say?! Yes, I’m sorry for the outburst and oh, by the way, I love you Allen- WAIT. NO. “I didn’t mean to shout like that.”

Allen halts to give him an unamused stare. “I know, I’m not idiotic like-” The boy bites his tongue from finishing.

He knows the boy is trying his best to be sympathetic, but a small chuckles escapes his lips. Allen trying not being a sarcastic little shit? Impossible. “You mean an idiot like me?”

“Aha, I see that you do have the capacity to recognize that you’re an idiot.”

“Uh no, I’m only finishing what you failed to say.”

They reach a house and Allen hops on top of a stone-wall border around someone's lawn.

Neah watches him nimbly walk across it from behind. He looks like a child. so Allen doesn't see the soft smile forming on his lips. "I will laugh if you fall." But what he really means:

_If you fall I will catch you._

So in a way… he does hope the boy will fall… into his arms.

(Un) Fortunately, it doesn’t happen.

Allen leaps off when he’s at the end of the border and he spins around to face him. The sway of his auburn hair and the slight curve on his lips on his childish face to the rosiness of his cheeks and nose from the cold wind blowing. From Neah’s perspective, he thinks Allen is a stunning masterpiece. No composer could ever create a more beautiful work than the person before him.

On a side note, he blames Adam for making him watch those soap operas and coming up with cheesy ass romance lines like these.

“Whatever is bothering you can come to me, _but _only as a last resort and I _swear _if you come to me with something stupid. Like Mana has a girlfriend, I will strangle you.”____

_____ _

Neah’s most brilliant reaction is to stand there and gawk in astonishment as the boy resumes his footsteps. Someone wake him up right now. Did Allen just comfort him without mocking him?!

_____ _

He didn’t realize how long he’s been standing, but Allen is hovering close to him. So close that he could feel the warm breath merely inches away… OH MY GOD! Instantly, his cheeks heat up and he jerks back.

_____ _

Allen frowns and he takes a step forward, unaware what’s wrong with Neah. “You sure you didn’t hit your head that _hard_?”

_____ _

Neah groans, it’s counter-intuitive if Allen just moves towards him when he’s purposely moving away from him! Allen isn’t an idiot like him, but he’s definitely the most dense person in the world. He slaps away Allen’s hand from touching his cheeks, resisting the urge to chase after them. 

_____ _

“Geez, I told you I’m good.” Neah brushes the topic off hastily and starts walking again. “You’re almost as worst as my brothers. I accidentally trip one time and they treat me like I was in critical condition!”

_____ _

“Pardon me for showing you an ounce of concern. I needed to know if that incident didn’t obliterate what little brain cells you had left.”

_____ _

“You? Concerned for me? Are you sure, you didn’t hit your head?”

_____ _

“And it’s absolutely wasted on the likes of you.”

_____ _

Neah doesn't understand why he can't simply thank the boy, instead his bright idea is to respond with an immature. "Well, who wants it?!" To top it off, he sticks his tongue out and Allen, being the more mature one, decides to not engage.

_____ _

Soon, he begins to recognize the street he’s in and soon he would arrive home. Abruptly, he recalls the boy’s word, _““whatever is bothering you can come to me, but only as a last resort...”_

___Is this a sign? Allen inviting him to tell him what's on his mind, to confess?!_ _ _

What an odd time to have an epiphany, but his mind chooses to have one now. He’s alone with Allen and not a single soul is in sight or near them. There’s nothing to distract him or Allen and the mood is perfect! They fought and reconcile!

_____ _

AND, they’re on kind of a “romantic” moonlit walk at night… so this is his moment! The stars are all aligned. He didn’t have some fancy speech or anything, but who needs the purple prose?! As long as he gets his feelings across, then it’s enough.

_____ _

He’ll finally know the long awaited answer that will change their relationship; either for the best or the worst. But hey, at least he’ll without a doubt know and then, he can decide to move on or... not.

_____ _

So… why is he still thinking about it?!

_____ _

Immediately, Neah stops dead on his tracks and swerves to Allen; which startles the boy. Things get weirder for Allen and more serious for Neah when he put his hands on the boy’s shoulder.

_____ _

The determination practically shone in Neah eyes when they met with Allen’s deeply puzzled ones.

_____ _

“Campbell?!” Allen’s eye narrows, suspiciously. “Just what-!”

_____ _

“Wait!” Neah cries out, nervously and swallows a few times as his throat out of nowhere feels dry. “Hear me out! I mean- it’s not a joke, _please_.”

_____ _

Allen’s expression becomes perplexed because he’s never heard him plead like this. It’s a different kind of pleading, one that isn’t a joke. Despite how strange the situation is, the boy decides to give Neah the benefit of the doubt. “... Speak …”

_____ _

Neah’s heart pounds heavily against his chest and he’s afraid that it might just leap out at Allen.

_____ _

Allen would literally have his love.

_____ _

“I-I-I… no, I mean. Damn it!” Why in this moment do words fail him?

_____ _

“Neah?! “ Allen frowns, startled and would have taken a step back if didn't keep him there in one spot. ”What is the matter with you? Do you seriously not have a concussion?”

_____ _

“Please, can you listen for one second?!” Neah yells, exasperated and now his little outburst has the boy taking him seriously, rather than regarding him as a lunatic. He breathes out slowly. “Look Allen, for these past few weeks things haven’t been going great, it’s been real shitty. Especially, my brothers bugging me and all.”

_____ _

Allen nods slowly and unsure, but he signals that he’s following along.

_____ _

“However! I’ve been thinking about this long and hard, so it’s not a _joke_.” Neah made sure to emphasize that he isn’t joking since he’s hardly ever serious. “I want to say that I-”

_____ _

“Neah!”

_____ _

Wow, some vindictive bitch must really hate him right about now because why else would this interruption occur? _Right when he's about to confess._

_____ _

Neah attempts to not pay any attention to the familiar voice he loves, but not so much right now. “Allen I-!”

_____ _

“NEAH!

_____ _

“Umm… your brother is calling you.” Allen points up to the second house from where they are. At that house, towards the window is where Adam is waving his hands. “He doesn’t sound very pleased either.”

_____ _

“ _Please, please_ just ignore him.” Neah whines as his hands lift from the boy’s shoulder so he could slap his forehead. How does his brother have such impeccable timing?

_____ _

“Neah! We have a lot to talk about young man and I want you in the house this very instance!”

_____ _

_Adam!_ Neah cheeks flushes red at how embarrassing his older brother is. He wonders if his brother knows what he’s saying and in front of his crush!

_____ _

No, of course not. He’d die, than allow his brothers to know this one deepest, darkest secret of his.

Allen emits a chuckle, a pleasing melody to Neah’s ears. More pleasing than any song he’s ever heard in his life and it only briefly distract him from his lamenting.

“I think whatever you want to tell me Campbell can wait, but your brother… not so much. Night.” Allen waves him a goodbye and reluctantly, Neah watches the boy disappear into the cold night.

Neah begrudgingly stomps his way inside because Allen is correct. His brother could not wait, ugh, unbelievable! The moment had been so perfect!

His older brother greets him with his arms against his chest and unpleasant expression on his face. However, Adam could never put on a intimidating demeanor when it came to his brothers. So instead, he lets out a tired sigh. “Why were you out so late?”

“Detention.” Neah sees Timcanpy coming around to greet him enthusiastically, but he merely pats him on the head. “Not now Tim.”

_____ _

The dog unhappily retreats from Neah’s mood.

_____ _

“It was only suppose to be for an hour.”

_____ _

“Yea, well we had a little incident and Bookman kept us there longer than we expected.” Neah shrugs, feeling discouraged. “Adam, it’s late and I want to go shower. So can we have this interrogation session a little later?”

“Neah, I’m not interrogating you. I’m-”

Neah doesn't give his brother a chance to finish and he storms up to his room. He manages to lock his door, but he forgoes to take off his shoes, dirty clothes, and bag in favor of flinging himself on his bed. He plants his face against his pillow and lets out a blood curdling wail.

_____ _

Tonight, his chance of revealing his feelings to Allen had been completely ruined by his own brother, who has no idea what he’s done. The worst part is, he couldn’t even blame or yell at his older brother.

**XXXXXX**

Neah drags his feet to breakfast and collapses his head on the dining table with a yawn.

Mana knows that his brother did not sleep well again and wants to help him if he’d just let him! It’s frustrating to not know what’s eating away at Neah. They’ve always been close since they were kids and they told each other everything! So why… why is Neah not speaking to them?! What is Neah hiding?! Why does he not trust them? 

_____ _

Neah flicks his attention briefly on the food, but doesn’t accept it and mumbles. “ ‘m not hungry.”

_____ _

“Not hungry?!” Mana repeats, incredulously before he scolds him like a mother hen. “You didn’t eat dinner last!” 

_____ _

A plate of pancakes are shoved in front of Neah, who in turn, pushes the plate away. The two begin a game of passing the pancakes back and forth.

_____ _

Eventually, Neah is fed up and heads for the door. The pancake left untouched. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

_____ _

“Wait a minute! Neah!” Mana cries and runs after him, but Neah left the house already. He hopes his brother will wait for him so he can grab his stuff, but before he leaves, he swerves his head towards Adam to hiss. “Adam! Why didn’t you say something?!”

_____ _

Adam sighs. “We can’t force him to eat. We could try, but he would end up leaving and even more furious.” 

_____ _

Mana could hear the that last part, _just like what happened now, _like it's his fault and he puts his hands on his hip. “Oh? So we let him starve?!”__

_______ _ _ _

“No, no, no. Mana, calm down.” Adam tries to soothe his little brother, who’s practically fuming. “If it helps, I had one of the servant's pack some food in his bag.”

_______ _ _ _

Mana's expressions softens and he covers his mouth, bewildered. "Oh." Why did he think for one minute that Adam didn't care? God, he's stupid. Almost as stupid as Neah and he means that in the most endearing way. 

_______ _ _ _

“Now, grab your things before our moody brother decides to leave.”

_______ _ _ _

Mana pinches his lips together. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap like that… thank you.” Could it be Neah's in serious trouble and doesn't want them involved? Then all the more reason that he needs to find out! 

_______ _ _ _

Adam shakes his head, gently. “We’re family.”

_______ _ _ _

No matter how much they drive each other insane.

_______ _ _ _

Breakfast went horribly and the walk to school was just as bad. Mana tried his best to start a conversation, but Neah didn't respond half at all and monosyllable words do not count! They part ways with a bad taste in their mouth.

_______ _ _ _

Neah slams his head against his desk at his first period.

_______ _ _ _

What is he going to do?! What is he going to do?! Oh freakin’ christ! What’s he going to say?!

_______ _ _ _

What has he done?!

_______ _ _ _

He wishes for some god to strike him down for his stupidity and for being a shitty brother.

_______ _ _ _

The panic in his body hasn’t subsided since he woke up this morning. Last night, he had been filled with resolve and bravado to confess to Allen. He even decided that he would still continue his plan tomorrow when he went to bed last night!

_______ _ _ _

However, the minutes ticked away and he was left in the dark with only his thoughts. Dark murmurs echoed in his mind; regrets and fear.

_______ _ _ _

So guess, how well he slept last night. _Not a wink._

_______ _ _ _

He didn’t even feel like eating, he’s afraid that he might just throw it all up.

_______ _ _ _

“Wow, you look like shit.”

_______ _ _ _

Neah gazes up to see who it is and promptly, puts his head down. “Go away.”

_______ _ _ _

“So, I hear you’re spending a lot of time with Allen.”

_______ _ _ _

“You’re not even in this class!”

_______ _ _ _

“Class hasn’t even started, so I can be here if I want.”

_______ _ _ _

“Go bother someone else, Cross!”

_______ _ _ _

“Alright, I’ll go bother your crush.” Cross shrugs, indifferently and starts to stand up, but Neah’s eyes widen and he scrambles on his desk to grab his arm.

_______ _ _ _

“Wait! I change my mind, bother me!” Neah drags him down to the seat of whoever suppose to sit in front of him. Cross flashes him a shit eating smirk and he goes back to slumping his head down. “This is all your fault.”

Cross raises an eyebrow. “My fault?”

“Yes.”

“I was joking! Jesus, how many times do I have to say it?”

All it took was one day and it happened so sudden. They were conversing normally and he doesn’t remember what he had been teasing Allen about, but it was bad. The boy told him to fuck off and stormed away. Cross watched the all thing like it was reality tv and offhandedly, quipped that he acted like some playground bully, who didn’t know how to deal with his crush.

After that… he didn’t see Allen in the same light again.

“I still blame you.”

“Want an apology? I, Cross Marian, apologize for making you realize you’ve got a huge boner for him.”

“Could you try to sound like you're actually sorry and not like an asshole?”

“You’re asking too much.”

Yea, I guess I am. Considering you’re useless as fuck."

Cross glares at him, but he allows Neah to have a freebie since he’s a nice fucking guy. He can see that he’s done enough to cause the boy enough pain and suffering for a lifetime. 

It’s fun to see Neah freak out, but he’s not that cruel. It’s all fun and games until shit hits the fan. Out of everyone to have the hots for, it’s Allen. Kid is a beast and he’s terrified of him at times. He glances at the entrance and leans down towards him to whisper. “Did you finally tell him or what?”

For the love of all that is holy! Is he seriously asking that?! Neah grits his teeth and growls. “Does it look like I have?!”

Cross isn’t fazed at all by the hostility. “Well, why not? Just ask him.”

Neah continues to bury his face on top of his arms. “What if he says no?”

“You know you sound like some shy schoolgirl?”

Neah wants to strangle the red hair boy because it’s not that simple! He can’t just go up to Allen and proclaim his love! If it was that straightforward, then he would have done it and not sit here moaning and groaning!

Truthfully, this is getting old for him, talking to people who know nothing....though, he’ll admit some of it is his fault, but it didn’t make it any less irritating. He finally lifts his head to harshly snap at the boy. “And you’re expert on this?! How about you come back when you’re about to confess to someone?!” How can Cross possible understand what he’s going through?! Knowing the boy, he probably doesn’t want to because this is the kind of shit he avoids like the plague.

_______ _ _ _

Cross is taken back, but he smooths himself out by closing his eyes for a moment.“ You’re right, I’m no expert. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’ll be stuck pining away like a fool if you don’t fucking tell him.”

_______ _ _ _

“But-”

_______ _ _ _

“But what?” Cross cuts him off with scoff. “If yes, whoopee fuck-a-doodle-doo and if no, suck it up. We all know Allen, he’s not going to be a dick and tell you to fuck off.”

Wait, there’s something off about that...

“...”

“...”

Cross realizes the mistake and corrects himself. “Okay, he’ll tell you to fuck off, but he won’t be a dick.”

Neah isn’t certain what to feel. Yay, that Allen won’t treat him any differently if he’s rejected or that he’ll be rejected with a “fuck off.” If this is Cross’s way of a pep talk, he sure doesn’t feel peppy.

Cross seems to read to his mind. “Look, there’s other fishes in the sea and I’ll even introduce them to you.” Then he adds in with a wink. “I mean some fine, high grade A beauties.”

“Uhm… thanks?” Neah knows what Cross says is logical, minus the last detail. However, logic and feelings always head butt with one another. There’s that feeling in him that it can’t be anyone, but Allen. In the end, he has to confess and speaking of confessing, Neah groans as he recalls last night fiasco. “I mean I was going to last night, but…”

Cross strains his ears, he couldn’t hear the last part. “But what?”

“Mnha inter… us.” God, the whole thing sounded stupid to Neah. He shouldn’t have said anything to Cross, but he’s already said it. So he has to finish.

“Neah, you have a louder voice than that.”

Neah breathes in deeply. “Adam… interrupted….”

“...”

“...”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Neah feels his cheeks heat up as he watches the redhead laugh at him with his arms cradling his stomach. People are beginning to stare and he did not need this. “Stop that!”

“S-hmm- ahaha- ha! My- ahem, bad.” Cross raises his hand as an apology and wipes the tears from his eye. “That is too rich.”

“Just get out of here you ass.”

_______ _ _ _

“So are you still going to go through with it?”

_______ _ _ _

“Yes.” Neah’s mouth said, but his mind is screaming, “nope, nope, nope.”

_______ _ _ _

Cross glances at the clock and prepares to leave, but not without patting Neah on the back. “Seriously, stop screwing yourself and go screw him.”

_______ _ _ _

“Cross!” Cue the regret that he confides in Cross about his love life and their past conversations of “I-might-be-in-love-with-Allen” to “holy-shit-I-think-I’m-in-love” and finally, “how-am-I- going-to-tell-him.”

_______ _ _ _

Now that he thinks about it, why did he trust to confide in Cross? Oh right, because Cross is the most likely to not get involved, but could still offer some support if he wants it. Plus, the boy owes him for that joke and has to hear him bitch and whine.

_______ _ _ _

To think, his woes began from a single joke!

_______ _ _ _

For the rest of his classes, Neah does think of Allen and of course, not about screwing him. The countdown to meeting him again is a blessing and a curse. He has to come up with a plausible excuse about his behavior last night or reveal it all and he's not planning to say diddly-squat! He clings onto the hope that maybe the boy forgot, but most likely not, Allen's memory is amazingly stupid good. Not photogenic, but damn near it. 

_______ _ _ _

On the bright side, he'll get to see Allen!

_______ _ _ _

There’s a small portion of his mind that wishes school would end faster, but not for reasons most people would assume.

_______ _ _ _

He wants to head over to his detention.

_______ _ _ _

… so he could see Allen. Okay, so his mind if filled with the boy.

_______ _ _ _

He never thought he’d actually enjoy a one hour detention punishment. Who would ever consider enjoying punishment from school? Even when it got extended to fix the library; which is cool with him because more time with Allen.

_______ _ _ _

There are times he wants to go up and thank his most hated teacher for giving him detention. However, he doesn’t, there’s a chance his spiteful teacher might take him out for being too happy.

_______ _ _ _

He practically skips to the library, but stops in front of the door to act cool and to remind himself. “Don’t do anything stupid, Neah.”

_______ _ _ _

Easier said than done.

_______ _ _ _

As part of his punishment for destroying the library, he has to stay an extra three hours after school. Though, if anyone asks, he thinks the library isn’t completely destroyed, just unusable at the moment.

_______ _ _ _

Bookman digresses.

_______ _ _ _

“Welcome Neah, put your things down and get started at the end with Allen.” Bookman greets him, while sitting on a table with piles of books. The towers of books accentuate how short the man is.

_______ _ _ _

Neah nods and places his belongs at the front desk. He can’t believe Bookman is going to leave them alone together after what happened yesterday. Then again, he shouldn’t be questioning this small miracle. He doesn’t want a babysitter. He already has two. 

_______ _ _ _

“Neah.” Bookman begins with a warning as he checks each book for no damages. “I trust there won’t be another incident with you and Allen. Any more damage to the library and there will be consequences.” 

_______ _ _ _

Neah could hear the underlying message of that and he’s pretty sure that means more than just his wallet. “Got it.” He flashes the man a thumbs up and he’s certain Bookman internally groaned at his reassuring action. 

_______ _ _ _

He finds the boy’s on the floor surrounded by books and engross in his task. “Hi.”

_______ _ _ _

No answer.

_______ _ _ _

“Helllooo!” 

_______ _ _ _

No answer again. Not even a reaction! 

_______ _ _ _

Jesus, what is up with Allen? Did he do something- scratch that, what didn’t he do to the boy?

_______ _ _ _

Allen blinks and looks up, slightly surprised. “Oh Neah, when did you get here?”

_______ _ _ _

“Like five minutes ago?”

_______ _ _ _

Allen continues to scan the book in his hand in deep concentration. “Hmm, can you believe how interesting this book is? I can’t fathom how I never stumbled across this.”

_______ _ _ _

Neah is a bit upset that a book holds more interest to Allen than him. “Am I interrupting? Cause I could leave you all alone with these books.”

_______ _ _ _

Allen shuts the book and puts it in another pile besides him. “Oh no you don’t! Don’t you dare leave, Campbell. This library needs to get fixed as soon as possible, so I can borrow that book once we’ve finished.”

_______ _ _ _

Figures. Books are always on the boy’s mind. “God, you’re such a nerd.”

_______ _ _ _

“And that’s the reason why I’m smarter than you, hurry up and gather those books scattered there.”

_______ _ _ _

They lapse into work mode, piling books away in relative peace. Every now and then, they would bicker with one another, but for the most part, they behaved... until they had to decide who would be doing the heavy lifting. 

_______ _ _ _

“I said I’ll do it.” 

_______ _ _ _

“Are you deaf, Campbell?”

_______ _ _ _

“Geez, I mean look at you! You’re tiny and you have no muscles!” Neah persists and outstretches his hand to emphasize the boy’s small frame. 

_______ _ _ _

“Tiny?” Allen grinds out, the vein throbbing in irritation. “Playing your fingers on the piano all day does not constitute as a workout!”

_______ _ _ _

“That’s not true! As a pianist, you still need to do finger exercises! I mean feel how much muscles they have!” 

_______ _ _ _

“I do hope you’re not insinuating that I’m weak.”

_______ _ _ _

“What? No!” Neah just doesn’t want him to do any heavy lifting and hurting himself. He’s learned Allen could take care of himself just fine and in fights. He’s had first hand experience with that fist to his face. However, there’s that what-if situation and he doesn’t want to see Allen get hurt. 

_______ _ _ _

“Enough bickering, you two!” Bookman barks from the front of the library and cutting their argument short. “I can hear you two all the way here! Neah get those shelves up and Allen sort those books!” 

_______ _ _ _

So much for using library voices...

_______ _ _ _

The two comply to those orders without any grievances. They knew just how scary the man could be when angered.

_______ _ _ _

“Campbell?” Allen calls out to him, grabbing his attention.

_______ _ _ _

“Sup?” Neah grunts as he lifts one of the smaller book shelves up right and he pats his hand together at a job well done. Now only like a bazillion more to go... He bends down to push up another one and half-way through he hears.

_______ _ _ _

“About what occurred last night, what did you want to tell me?”

_______ _ _ _

ABANDON SHIP. ALLEN DID REMEMBER.

_______ _ _ _

In his panic, Neah's concentration wavers and so did his grip on the wooden shelf. He drops it, pulling his hand out in time from crushing his fingers. However, he forgets that his foot is in the crash zone and the top half of the shelf lands on his foot. He tries to yank his foot out and move the shelf off his foot, but the pain surging in his foot distracts him. “FUCK!”

_______ _ _ _

From the corner of his eyes, Allen is quick on his feet and attempting to lift the bookcase. “Move!”

_______ _ _ _

Neah does just that and recoils back, his bottom landing on the floor and Allen drops the wooden shelf to the floor with a deafening thud.

_______ _ _ _

“Campbell, you had one job and that was to put the shelves back up.”

_______ _ _ _

He’s too busy to grace the boy his attention with the burning sensation that’s aching in his foot.

_______ _ _ _

Bookman rushes to them from the front with a first aid kit in his hands already. “Somehow, I suspect one of you would get hurt. What happened?” 

_______ _ _ _

“The bookcase fell on his foot.”

_______ _ _ _

Bookman sighs, tiredly learned his lesson in giving the two the benefit of the doubt.\\. “I’m starting to think it’s a hazard having you two together in my library. Allen could you get him to a chair?”

_______ _ _ _

Neah protests as tries to stand up, he doesn't need help from this! “It’s fine, Allen. I can-” He pales when he sees the threatening expression on the boy’s face. “Uhm… thanks.” If he wants to leave this place with only a bruise, then he better shut up and accept Allen’s help.

_______ _ _ _

The only thing he could process is, wow... he’s really close to Allen. The feeling comforts his pain, sending butterflies to his stomach and now he feels uneasy somewhere else. He sits down and prop his foot on top of another chair.

_______ _ _ _

Bookman prods Neah to take his shoes off to check the injury, but he hesitates. He can’t help, but think how stupid it is that he bruised his foot and now he has to show it around his crush! If he had to get injure and show his battle wounds, then at least let it be for a cool or badass reason! Like saving him.

_______ _ _ _

Talk about embarrassing and super lame!

_______ _ _ _

He doesn’t have time to lament when Allen forcefully takes his shoe off without warning. Jesus! That sends a signal of pain through him. “Ah! Gentle! I’m injured remember?!”

_______ _ _ _

“Don’t be a baby! If you’re able to complain, then you’re alright.” Allen snaps. “Now take off your bloody socks.”

_______ _ _ _

Sure enough, his foot is swollen and later, he knows his foot will be turning fifty shades of black and blue.

_______ _ _ _

Bookman examines the injury and shakes his head. “I’m going to need to call the nurse to get you and I suggest you go see a doctor. Allen watch over him so he doesn’t hurt himself anymore.”

_____Neah strongly objects to that._ _ _ _ _

Allen crosses his arms against his chest with a frown on his face that’s he’s done something stupid. So that’s the frown he gets all the time. “I knew it! I should have been the one lifting those, but no. Now look what you did to yourself!”

_______ _ _ _

Allen is really angry at him and regardless, Neah cheekily replies. “Well, it could have been worse.”

_______ _ _ _

Allen’s eyes go wide with shock before a dark fury shades it. “I’ll show you worse!”

_______ _ _ _

Neah cringes, looking away in fear while raising his hands in the air and without thinking he blurts out. “It could have been you!” He keeps his eyes shut, expecting a punch to his face, but instead, he hears a long and irritated sigh. He peeks one eye to see the boy’s profile and organizing the books.

_______ _ _ _

“Sometimes, I don’t understand you, Campbell.”

_______ _ _ _

“Is that a compliment?”

_______ _ _ _

“No, that makes you an anomaly in my world. One that can’t be solved and gotten rid of no matter how much I try.”

_______ _ _ _

Neah could live with that, as long as he’s in the boy’s world and not forgotten.

_______ _ _ _

There’s nothing much for him to do, but to watch Allen. He admires the seriousness in the boy’s eyes whenever he works. He takes the time to memorize the curve of his mouth, the redness of his lips, the way his glasses seats at the bridge of his nose, and to the shape of his eyes.

_______ _ _ _

“You’re staring, Campbell.” Allen states, absentmindedly as he places the books back to their proper spot.

_______ _ _ _

Neah jumps a little, can’t believe he got caught. When did Allen even notice?! So trying to save his face, he asks. “So, I’m guessing no piano?”

_______ _ _ _

Allen “sets” the book down loud thud against the shelf and that frightens him. He done piss the boy off again and he can’t run away... he should consider carrying tape with him. Just so he can tape his own mouth to shut up.

_______ _ _ _

“Oh, of course Campbell, you can play the piano with an injured foot instead of resting!”

_______ _ _ _

He can’t see the boy’s expression that well, but his damn mouth runs on. “Are you being sarcastic?”

_______ _ _ _

“Of course, I’m being bloody sarcastic!” Allen snaps

_______ _ _ _

“It was just a question! How long do I have to keep it this way?“

_______ _ _ _

“It depends, few days or months, but as Bookman suggested, go see a doctor.”

_______ _ _ _

Neah feels his jaw drop to the floor at that news and he has to forcefully close it. No way, that long?! A few days or few months of no piano practice?! That’s hell! A musician must practice everyday! If he misses a single day then that’s multiplied by two! That’s double time for him and he’ll have to make up for all those missed practice days. “But, but it’s just a bruise!”

_______ _ _ _

Allen swerves to face him, threateningly with a hand of his hip and a book pointing at him. “Whatever it is, Campbell. Don’t even think you can do shit until it fully heals. Knowing you, you’ll figure out how to make it worse!”

_______ _ _ _

Sadly, Neah couldn’t even do anything if he wanted to. Mana and Adam would make sure to keep him in bed, though he could try to get leeway with his brother. However, if Allen is in on it, then good bye freedom! On the other hand, he should be glad that Allen would consider nursing him to health? The more likely scenario is the boy would hurt him more than nurse him and the thought makes his body ache.

_______ _ _ _

“Oh by the way, am I ever going to find out what was so bloody important last night?”

_______ _ _ _

Oh speaking of aching! Inside, Neah starts to scream internally and his mind doesn’t know what to do, but set everything on fire. On the outside, he shrugs casually and plays dumb. “What about last night?”

_______ _ _ _

Allen, being the smart geek he is, doesn’t buy it. “Campbell, that is a load of bull shit.”

_______ _ _ _

“I’m not kidding! I honestly, forgot!”

_______ _ _ _

“Do you take me for some sort of fool?”

_______ _ _ _

“Well… yea.” Please, just this once?

_______ _ _ _

“Alright you, wanker. Either you disclose it to me or you’ll find yourself with an actual concussion.” Allen threatens, while holding a thicker book in his hand.

_______ _ _ _

Neah breaks into a cold sweat, where is Bookman or the nurse?! What is taking them so long to come back. “Jesus! You can’t be serious!”

_______ _ _ _

“You want to take that bet?”

_______ _ _ _

“No!” Neah quickly cries and waves his hands out. “No! No.” He’s feeling frantic and his brain races for some plausible excuse.

_______ _ _ _

“Campbell, we don’t have all eternity.”

_______ _ _ _

“Errr… well, you won’t laugh will you?” Guess the jig is up, unless he wants to reveal something stupid instead. Like… why can’t he even think of a stupid lie? He’s always got something stupid to say!

_______ _ _ _

Wait, don’t quote him on that.

_______ _ _ _

Allen peeks down from his glasses and that serves to magnify his confusion. “Am I supposed to?”

_______ _ _ _

“No.” Neah lamely replies.

_______ _ _ _

“Then don’t give me a reason.”

_______ _ _ _

Neah glowers down, reluctant to give an answer. Could he stall until the nurse comes to get him?

_______ _ _ _

Allen sighs and rubs the sides of his head. “Neah, I know you don’t consider me your friend, but….”

_______ _ _ _

Friend… friend… friend! That’s it! Allen’s words were no longer registering into his ears as he formulates his cover up.

“It’s clear to me that I’ve lost you.”

“What no?” Neah huffs before trying to act nervous and mumbles. “I want to know… well, what do you… uhm, considered us to be? Friends?”

For the record: _He is totally not chickening out… okay yea... he is totally pussing out like a bitch._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and your support! It's not dead this story, like I said will finish it, but I don't know when I'll finish it. Thank you for your patience OTL
> 
> Also please forgive me and any grammatical mistakes I've made.

Mana jumps out of his bed all bright-eyed and bushy tail at six in the morning. There’s nothing special or particular about today and it’s not because of school either.  It’s just that he always gets up everyday at six in the morning.  
  
Neah can never fathom why he gets up so early.  
  
He can’t help himself. Who can stay in bed when a new day has arrived? There’s so little time in life and so much to do! He certainly isn’t going to waste it all on sleep and in bed! Neah’s ideal wake up time is past twelve on non-school days and don’t even mention at what time he wakes up during school days. They live only ten minutes from school and classes starts at eight in the morning.  
  
That’s enough to explain how terrible Neah is at getting up in the morning. So an argument can be made that he partially gets up early to wake Neah up.  
  
Still. No matter how much sleep his brother gets, he still wakes up tired and grumpy. However, his brother is never too tired to complain about how he’s an early riser and especially on school days. Adam wakes up early depending on his agenda for each day, but never sleeps in late like Neah.  
  
He parts the curtains quickly and the ray of sunshine warms his face up. Another lovely day and another glimmer of hope inside him that Neah isn’t in such a sour mood. He runs through his morning ritual and he wonders what exciting event will today bring?  
  
He opens the door and unexpectedly, Adam is waiting there with what seems to be a nervous expression?  “Good- whoa!” The smile on his lips is practically knocked off when Adam grabs him by his arm without a word and frantically drags him downstair.  
  
He almost tripped!  
  
Halfway to the dining room, it seems Adam discovers his voice and mumbles frightfully. “You have to see this Mana! There is no way to describe this phenomena!”  
  
“What?!’ He thinks the worst. Is someone hurt? Is it Neah?  
  
They arrive to the dining table room and Adam pushes the door open with full force. They see Neah is up. _Neah up._ Neah is never the first to be up, never on his own, and never so early in the morning. It just doesn’t happen.  
  
Thankfully, no one is hurt, but it doesn’t excuse the strangeness of it all.  
  
Usually someone has to wake Neah up in the morning or to phrase it accurately, force him awake. None of the servants stand a chance in waking Neah up. As a result, Mana and Adam have to take turns to get him up.  
  
Neah can be such a brat.  
  
For both brothers, the routine plays out almost the same way. They start nice, then it turns to yelling, threatening, pulling the covers off, pulling a leg or arm, and any other childress tactics they can think of. With enough screams and antics, Neah eventually wakes up.  
  
Thankfully, Neah has enough sense to wake up before the situation escalates to cold water or the air horn to his ear. Neah could never understand why they buy those things if they never use it and Adam always replies with, “it’s an investment.”  
  
Well… that is how it should have played out this morning.

  
If Neah being up early isn’t the kicker, then the next part is...  
  
Neah smiles cheerfully as if there’s nothing wrong. He didn’t even notice how frazzled they appeared. “Good morning you two!”  
  
“See?!” Adam whispers in his ears nervously.  
  
“What happened?!” Mana whispers back equally alarmed and shaking his brother’s shoulder.  
  
“I don’t know! When I came down… he… he- he was like this!”  
  
Neah over these past weeks had been in the most horrible mood known to mankind and now... _now_ out of the blue their brother is…. is in high spirits again. It was good news that Neah is happy again, but what they were concerned was that the mood whiplash came out of nowhere and changed some of his habits!  
  
The one person that didn’t think anything wrong with Neah is Timcanpy. A dog’s life is truly easy.  
  
There is a mixture of thoughts and emotions running through them as they stare at Neah. For the life of them, they just couldn’t articulate their feelings and thoughts into words. They didn’t know what to make of it or do. So they settled for staring as if staring is going to give them the answers they need.  
  
Neah stands up from his seat and walks up towards them, while he waves his hands in their faces. “Hey! Earth to Mana and Adam!” Neah casts them an odd expression for their behavior when they didn’t budge or response.  
  
Mana found the whole thing to be hilarious because they’re the ones that thought Neah’s behavior is the odd one.  
  
“Okay, well… I’m gonna head down to school first!” Neah’s next action shocks them even further as Neah hugs his brothers and pecks them on the cheeks. “See ya later you two! Bye Tim!”  
  
“Woof!”  
  
They hear the door close and the footsteps disappear. All they could do is stand there with their mouths open, gaping stupidly. Their gaze still lingering on where their brother had been sitting.  
  
“...”  
  
“...”  
  
“...”  
  
“...”  
  
“Are we having the same dream, Adam?” Mana asks as he pinched his cheeks and it stung. So that answered his own question.  
  
“Did Neah say he was going to school _first?_ He has almost two hours before class even starts!”  
  
“What is wrong with our brother?!” Mana moans, utterly confused.  “Is he sick?”  
  
“I checked! I asked the maid to take his temperature and his temperature was normal!”  
  
“Are you sure the thermometer wasn’t broken?”  
  
“I’m certain it was not! I even asked him what he was drinking and drank from the same cup!”  
  
“And?”  
  
“It’s just tea!”  
  
“Did the tea expire?!”  
  
“Preposterous! It was just bought yesterday! I even made a new batch myself and it didn’t taste any different!”  
  
“You think it was something he ate?” Mana frowns, perplexed and he continues to questions until Adam stops him. Good old Adam always tried to see the bright side of things.  
  
“No, Mana! We should be glad our brother is back to normal!”  
  
“And you see nothing wrong with the way he’s behaving? He went from being the most unhappiest person to the happiest person!  
  
“That’s in the past now! In the end, Neah worked it out on his own and with our support. We should be grateful that everything worked out.” Adam smiles in relief after weeks of walking on eggshells.  
  
Mana still crossed his eyebrows in displeasure. “Support him? But we didn’t even do anything or figure out what was wrong with in the first place!“  
  
“We tried and it didn’t work like I said. Sometimes there are things you can’t do, Mana. Sometimes watching over them is all you can do, but it helps to let them know, they have support.”  
  
No doubt what his older brother said made sense and is quite profound. BUT. He decided to take a leaf out of Neah’s book; which involved not listening and doing what he wants. Mana crosses his arm together and declares adamantly. “We need to get to the bottom of this!”  
  
The mood dips down from a learning lesson and happy end causing Adam to pout. “But, but, he’s so happy!”  
  
“But we can’t just sweep it all under the rug! We can’t wait everytime Neah has some sort of mood whiplash. What if there is actually something wrong with him?! Then we need to get him actual help.”  
  
“...”  
  
“...”  
  
Adam sighs, tiredly and he knows that could be right. There is a possibility that Neah could have developed something. If that’s the case then... “What do you propose we do then?”  
  
Mana’s adamant attitude falters and he stutters. “I-I-I don’t know, but I’ll think of something!”  
  
Adam sits at the table and pours himself a cup of tea to calm the uneasiness churning inside him. “I can already foresee the troubles ahead…” He wonders if anyone notices he’s the one that needs professional help because of  his two stubborn brothers.  
  
**XXXXXX**  
  
Mana slumps down on his desk and a heavy sigh escapes his lips. He said he’d think of something, but he didn’t. Well, to be more accurate, he didn’t think of anything new that he hasn’t already tried. What he’s already done, hasn’t exactly garner any success.  
  
Maybe the more he mulled it over, the better chance he’ll be able to find the answer? After all, they say one must find the answer within oneself.  
  
Why did Neah decide to go to school by himself and so early? It was odd for him to walk alone to school because ever since he could remember, they’ve always gone together. There are only very few instances of them not walking together to school. In all those instances they would have told each other ahead of time, but Neah didn’t. He just told him without warning and left.  
  
Why the sudden change? Why was Neah so eager to go to school?  
  
Hands cloud his vision and disrupted his thoughts. “Guess who?!”  
  
He recognizes that voice anywhere. “Road…”  
  
The smaller girl usually has a smile on her, but this time she pouts as she takes someone else’s seat in front of him. Her normal seat is in the front where the teacher can monitor her “lack of work discipline.” “Not you too, Mana! For the past weeks, I haven’t seen much of Neah and every time I did, he’s been gloomy! Don’t tell me he’s infected you too?!”  
  
“No, I’m just kind of frustrated.”  
  
“Frustrated at what?”  
  
Neah. But he doesn’t want to point fingers since there must be a reason for his brother’s behavior. “Well-”  
  
Road doesn’t let him finish explaining and starts jumping to conclusions. “Is someone bullying you?!”  
  
“Road-”  
  
“Tell me who it is, Mana and I’ll teach him a lesson about messing with you!” A dark frown mars her face and sends chills down Mana’s spine. She may appear to be child like and small, but in reality, she’s a very capable and mature girl. When she’s angry, she’s becomes... a bit frightening.  
  
“No, Road!” Mana hastily cries at the sudden turn of events from her being concerned to now wanting to murder someone on his behalf. If he said Neah, then she wouldn’t murder him…. instead hurt him really badly? Anyways, he’d like his brother in one piece.  
  
“No one is bullying me!” God, he can imagine what all his friends and family would do if someone turned out to be bullying him. As much as Road would like to defend him, he’s sure his brothers would be the first to respond. Besides, he’s not sure if there would be anything left of the bully for whoever gets there first, Neah or Adam.  
  
Road seems to relax slightly before puffing her cheeks in frustration and throws a mini tantrum over the desk with her arms sprawled out. “Then what’s wrong?!”  
  
“It’s Neah.”  
  
Road gasps. “Is someone bullying Neah?!”  
  
Mana starts with a “No-!”, but he realizes maybe, just maybe someone is bullying Neah and that might be the explanation for his brother’s behavior! The horrible attitude could be Neah’s frustration at being bullied and Neah being a very difficult person didn’t want any help. However, that doesn’t explain why his brother left the house early in a good mood. Mana slumps down defeated at such a plausible reason. “No, I don’t think he’s being bullied.”  
  
“How do you _know?!”_  
  
“Neah left the house _first_ and with a smile on face after weeks of frowning!”  
  
Road gasps in surprise at the news. “Really?!  But a frown crosses her face and she taps her chin, contemplating. “What if he’s just pretending to be happy?”  
  
“Why would he do that?”  
  
“Duh! So he doesn’t worry you and your brother anymore than he has! He could be hiding his pain with a smile!”  
  
This oddly made sense to Mana or either that, the boy was desperate for an explanation.  
  
Mana lets out a gasp in shock and wide eye towards Road. “Oh my god, you’re right! What if he’s really being bullied?! Why did that never cross my mind?!” Oh! What a horrible brother I’ve been to Neah!  
  
Road continues to jump to conclusion and fueling Mana into a worried state. “Maybe he came to school early because the bully told him to or, or-!”  
  
Mana did not need to hear anymore and immediately, shoots up from his seat. “We have to go find him!” His sudden outburst gains some very confused stares and whispers from his classmate. However, the unwanted attention didn't matter to him and he’s on his feet. “Let’s go, Road!” The girl is on the same page as him and they leave the classroom immediately.  
  
Never mind the fact that class is about to start in three minutes.  
  
Sounds of footsteps echo loudly in the empty halls and Cross didn’t think twice about the noise. Probably, some poor sap who thinks school is important and actually cares about not being late to class. Meanwhile, he’s on the other end of that spectrum and walking languidly towards his class. It’s only for today that he decides to go to class and grace them with his presence.  
  
In reality, Cross is bored right now and doesn’t have anything better to do.  He hasn’t been in his class for almost three days. It’s amazing no one has kicked him out. Maybe something entertaining will happen in class today.    
  
“Cross!”  
  
Cross barely had any time to react when someone grabs him by the shoulder and begins to mercilessly shake him. He was about to snap at whoever it was, but realized it’s Mana. Mana is in front him with wide eyes and in a state of alarm.  
  
Cross is very perplexed and he isn’t able to get a word because Mana blurts out first. “Neah is being bullied!”  
  
There’s a series of thoughts running through Cross and his first reaction: he really wants to laugh out loud. However, the seriousness in Mana’s face and voice made him reconsider otherwise. So choosing his words carefully in this confusing situation with his very distressed friend, he tells him.  “Mana… you’re drunk, go home.”  
  
“Cross! I’m being serious here!”  
  
There’s a growl in Mana’s voice. A warning sign that he should be taking this seriously, but he can’t. Neah being bullied? Who can blame him at how hilarious that sounds? “Yea and so am I. Go home and open a bottle of the hardest liquor you have; which I know you have and refuse to share with me. Then, sleep it off for the whole day.”  
  
Mana is not amused. Any other day, he would be, but not today, not when his brother is in trouble.  
  
Cross wanted to add another witty remark, but the hands clenching at his shirt and tightening around his throat made it hard to speak. Also, his feet isn’t on solid ground is kind of unsettling.  
  
“Show him, Mana!” Road cheers.  
  
Cross feels like he’s the one who is really being bullied here.  
  
“Cross. I’m. Being. Serious.” There’s a deadly smile on Mana’s face and the sweet voice doesn’t mask the threatening aura emitting from the boy. Finally, at death’s door is Cross convinced to listen and Mana releases him.  
  
“Jesus.” Cross rasp as he rubs his throat and mutters the last part under his breath.  “Crazy bastard.”  
  
He forgets Mana can be frighteningly unreasonable like his other two brothers.     
  
“Are you going to help us?” Road asks, who Cross found very helpful in the situation as she watched and cheered for Mana to murder him.  
  
“Help?” Cross grumbled, he was just threatened and they want his help?! He sighs, irritated. “Where the hell did you two get the idea that Neah would ever let himself get harassed?”  Mana should know his own brother better than that. God, he’s not the one who’s related to the idiot.  
  
Thank the big guy up there that he isn’t.  
  
Mana realizes that Cross does have a point, now that he isn’t letting his emotions cloud his thoughts. Neah wouldn’t be someone that allowed anyone to push him around; unless that someone happened to be his friends or family.  
  
The pause from Mana told Cross enough who filled the boy’s head with nonsense and he frowns at the girl.  
  
If this is the case, then the incident early... Mana feels utterly silly. “I guess you do have a-”  
  
“How would you know? Neah is strong, but he isn’t… uh, strong!” Road falters at the end and for a lack of better word, she gave up to use the same word.  
  
Mana nods, slowly, understanding what she meant even though the wording was a bit off. Meanwhile Cross just whistles mockingly at her. “Grade A student right here.”  
  
“Shut up! You’re not either!”  
  
“I don’t have to be. I’m top tier.”  
  
“Yea, top tier shit-”  
  
Mana claps his hands loudly and chimes. “OKAY! We are here for Neah. We are not here so the two of you can fight.”  
  
“For who?” Cross asks and Road couldn’t take him anymore. She rolls her eyes in annoyance and kicks him in the shin because she’s going to get the last laugh.  
  
Cross instantly howls in pain and cradles his shin, he would have fallen to the floor if Mana hadn’t been there to catch him.    
  
“Road!” Mana scolds at her actions.  
  
“You bitch!”  
  
“Cross!” Mana cries aghast at his language towards the girl. In his shock, he accidently lets Cross go causing the redhead to fall to the floor with a pained groan. He realizes what he’s done and he gasps sheepishly. “Oh! Sorry!”  
  
Road merely smiles, innocently. However, there’s an amused glitter in her eyes and clearly sending a message that she isn’t at all apologetic.  
  
Cross was a man who knew what he wanted and knew how to get it. For sure today, he did not want to be threatened nor, did he want to be kicked in the shin by some girl. He most _definitely_ did not want to be on the floor writhing in pain and seething with frustration.  
  
“Road that was not appropriate at all.” Mana frowns with a chiding tone and he helps Cross up from the floor.  
  
“Save it.” Cross spat as he dusted the grim from the floor off of his clothes. “She won’t mean it.”  
  
“You really are smart after all.”  
  
“Road! What did I say early? We’re here for Neah and not for a fight!”  
  
“Jesus christ, are you still going on about that? For the last time, your brother is _not_ being bullied.” Far from it. If he could, Cross would answer that Neah is being a crazy fool in love. But he’s not because he’s a good man and knows when to keep his mouth shut.  
  
“How would you know that?!” Road accuses with her hands on her hips.  
  
Again. The circle starts again.  
  
“Because I drink and I know things. You should try it, maybe you’ll learn something that doesn’t involve being a brat.” Cross retorts.  
  
“I don’t understand why you’d want to be friends with him!”  
  
“Probably because he needs an adult to not tell him stupid crap.”  
  
“Adult?! I’m older than you and how is telling him to go drink a bottle of wine supposed to help him?!”  
  
Mana sighs, dejectedly as he watches the two bicker. It was hopeless with these two.  “I’m sorry Neah for not being there when you needed it. I’m a sorry excuse for a brother.”  
  
“Sorry for what?” Cross snaps, riled up from Road’s retorts and exasperated at the situation. So without thinking he adds. “The only thing Neah needs is to get his hands into Allen’s pants.”  
  
“...”  
  
“...”  
  
“...”  
  
“Oh shit. I mean- uhm- fuck. The, uhm, only thing he needs to do is get-er Allen’s pants… cause he likes them… a lot. I mean have you seen them? They look pretty cool and…”  
  
Cross can practically see the cogs processing in the two from what he said and his lame ass cover up isn’t doing anything to correct the situation. The jig is up and he groans, while slapping his forehead. “I fucked up didn’t I?”  
  
“WHAT?!” Mana practically screeches causing Cross to wince when he pieced the puzzle together.  
  
Road is obviously excited. “OH MY GOD! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE NEED TO GET HIS HANDS IN-MMPF!”  
  
Cross did not want her to finish that sentence out loud and he clasps his hands over her mouth _._ This is news not worth spreading and getting his balls busted for.  
  
Road is too excited by the news to care about Cross’s actions.  
  
There’s so much emotions stirring inside Mana at the news; confusion, excitement, shock, disbelief. Overall, he feels giddy that his brother actually has a crush on someone and that someone is Allen! However, realization hits him and he frowns with an offended gasp. “What?! Is this true?! Wait! Why did he tell you and not us?!” He can’t believe his brother has a crush! This is something you’d tell family first, him and Adam! Not that he didn’t consider Cross family, but the boy is a different kind of family. Neah is their brother! For god sakes! They were triplets and shared everything together!  
  
Honestly, he does feel a bit betrayed.  
  
If Cross wasn’t already in deep neck trouble, he’d reply with “cause he knows the stupid shit you guys would do”. However, he’s already said enough and he opted for the safer choice by keeping his mouth shut like he was supposed to!  
  
“What! You can’t just tell us this juicy news and not spill the details!” Road huffs, clinging to Cross arm and Mana takes the other, obviously agreeing with the girl’s sentiment.   
  
Cross grimaces in disgust at the gossiping mood about to develop. He had nothing against it; after all gossiping is a great way to get information. Accurate or not, but it’s an incentive to find the right information. Still. He’s not one to gossip and he attempts to shake them both off. “No. No. No!”  
  
Mana and Road were obstinate.  
  
“Is it true?”  
  
“Does he have a crush on Allen?!”  
  
“Why didn’t he tell us?”  
  
“Why do you know?”  
  
“CROSS!”  
  
The questions assaults both sides of his ear and Cross knew he isn’t escaping until he threw these two a bone. He wish he had a bone, maybe he could whack them unconcious with it.  
  
This time he ponders carefully about his next words in order to divert some of the blame away from him to Neah. Anyways, Neah is a big boy, he can clean up this mess. “It’ll mean much more if you hear Neah say it. Ask him and you’ll be able to read him like an open book.” The pressure on his arms disappear, but the heavy feeling of something terrible happen doesn’t. He really hopes it doesn’t involve him.  
  
“I can’t wait to ask him!”  
  
“I know what you mean!”  
  
There’s a feeling that wells up inside Cross and he thinks it’s pity…

...

...

...  
  
Nah.  
  
Call it for what it was. He’s just feeling the urge to get the hell out of here. _“_ Let’s make this clear. _You didn’t hear anything from me.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Well if anything is unclear or confusing or I made a mistake, please send me a message if you have questions!


End file.
